


Noble Intentions

by FyireMoon



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: I'll add tags as they become relevant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 22:23:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11091141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyireMoon/pseuds/FyireMoon
Summary: When Lani Noble was twelve years old she found an alien artifact that gave her powers and turned her world upside down. Five years later and more than a little battered, she finds herself in New York City after months of running from a strange, mind controlling force that wants her dead. There she gets a chance to be safe: A school filled with other super powered humans, although that safety may be far more fragile than they all think. With a brainwashing psychic and a growing group of furious mutants out for blood, Lani has no choice but to fight.





	Noble Intentions

 

 

Lani Noble pressed one hand against the side of the grimy bathroom mirror and glared at her reflection. Tired gold brown eyes, more gold than brown nowadays, stared back from under side swept messy bangs and took in the other horrid things about her current appearance. Grey pale skin, the freckles splashed stubbornly across her cheeks and nose, the bags under her eyes, the messy dirty brown hair that had been pulled back into a messy bun to keep it away from her face. She couldn’t really remember the last time she showered. Or combed her hair for that matter.

 

And, of course, the ever present necklace around her neck: a wire wrapped golden orb tired hastily to a thick cord. The stupid thing had been a blessing at first, giving her and four friends exciting new powers,and then torn her life apart within seconds. Typical of all-powerful aliens to make something that tears a world apart and required a literal human sacrifice to bring the world back.

 

 _“Wow”_ A voice, loud with a heavy mix of accents, echoed around the tiled walls of the bathroom, “ _You look like shit.”_

 

Lani scowled down at the orb on the end of her necklace where the voice had come from, “Excuse me for not looking great while being on the run for six months. There wasn’t much left of my house to scavenge from.”

 

A second voice joined to snap at the first, the pendant pulsing an angry blue _“Sparky, lay off. It’s only because Lani’s moving around constantly that we’re safe.”_

 

 _“Oh don’t bring logic into this Lily.”_ Sparky’s voice snapped, gold mixing to swirl with the blue across the orbs frosted surface, _“It was a joke.”_  

 

 _“Still rather uncalled for._ ” A third voice said simply, green mixing into the rest of the colours

 

“Would you all just shut up?” Lani gritted her teeth. If there was a time when she hadn’t been on edge or stressed, she didn’t remember it. Everything had gone to shit when she was twelve, and since then it kept finding ways to get worse. She had found out that she was created in a lab as a genetics test then stumbled onto an alien orb at twelve years old and activated the mutant gene in herself, her sister and three friends. Then started the year long fight against said orb-creating aliens using their new found powers, a fight ended up destroying the world in a blaze of fire and required the other four to die in order to bring everything back.  

 

Well, mostly losing them. Their bodies were gone, turned into dust as the world burst back into life, but Lani had managed to contain their souls in the orb at a last ditch effort of saving them. Their powers remained, Lily could still get into people's heads and Viv could still conjure fire, but their physical forms were gone.

 

It was… Very, very complicated.

 

“ _Lani, you should get moving.”_ Swirling red drowned out the other colours as Viv spoke up, “ _You’ve got a plane to stow away on.”_

 

The girl nodded and zipped up her windbreaker to hide the necklace, “Thanks, Sis. Lily, you ready?”

 

“ _Always.”_ Lily’s presence took hold in Lani’s mind, “ _Good thing Auckland airport is fairly straightforward.”_

 

“Yay, New Zealand.” Lani mumbled. She shoved a few last things into her bag, made sure it was secure around her shoulders, and then stopped in front of the bathroom door. Bouncing lightly on the tips of her toes, she took deep breaths. In through her nose. Out through her mouth. In through her nose, out through her mouth, brace, _go._ Lani lunged forward and phased through the door, forced her body to become air, and took off like a shot through the crowds of people milling about. Holding her breath, she built up speed, turning where Lily instructed her to turn until she reached the gate she needed.

 

_Auckland, New Zealand to New York City, New York_

Lani’s head was starting to pound, a sick feeling rising at the back of her throat. Her body couldn’t handle going ethereal for long. It was an incredibly helpful ability, but the strain it put on her body if she stayed that way for too long was rough. Her air powers were difficult at best to control, so mostly she just pushed the majority of her power to some dark part in her chest where it couldn’t get out unless she really needed it. Once she reached the ramp to board the plane she slowed, her shoes skidding slightly. Lani pulled herself back together and took in a deep breath of new air. Her head continued to pound as she walked down the ramp as normally as she could, blinking away the black spots swimming in her vision. 

 

The Flight Attendants were about to close the door as she slipped through, forcing a smile, “Sorry! Got a little lost.” They waved her on and she hurried past them and down the aisle.

 

 _“Your nose is bleeding.”_ Viv warned, speaking in Lani’s head. The brunette pressed the back of her hand to the spot to stop it, ducking her head hide her face a little more.

 

 _“You’re in row 15.”_ Sparky stage whispered in her head, “ _I glitched the system out so you’ll be sitting alone.”_ Sparky’s powers had been the most useful; complete access to the internet with no firewalls or hoops to jump through had saved her life more than once. Lani hummed quietly in thanks and slipped into her seat, slumping against the far wall. Her nose was still bleeding stubbornly, staining the sleeve of her purple windbreaker as she tried to make it stop. Buckling her seat belt and kicking her bag under the seat in front of her, Lani leaned her head back and closed her eyes. _16 hours_ , she thought, _16 hours of relative safety._

 

 _“Why are we even going to New York?_ ” Lily asked, using her powers to ease the girls headache. Lani pressed her hand to her forehead.

 

If Annetta had a body she would’ve shrugged, _“There’s a lot of weird energy in New York, we’ll be able to hide easier there._ ”

 

 _“We don’t even know what we’re hiding from.”_ Sparky growled. Lani frowned. Sparky wasn’t exactly wrong, they didn’t know  _who_ was after them but they knew that they were a very angry physic that wouldn’t rest until she was dead. They had never attacked directly, instead choosing to get inside the heads of people around her and turn them against her. Just hordes of red glowing people intent on ripping her limb for limb.

 

There are only so many times one can ‘accidentally punch’ an innocent person before getting arrested. She’d been in prison once, didn’t want to do that again.

 

Tucking her feet up beside her, Lani crossed her arms and settled in, “I’m going to try and sleep.” She mumbled, “Don’t wake me up unless we’re dying.”

 

_“Yes Ma’am.”_

 

\---

 

_“LANI, WAKE UP!”_

 

Lani jerked awake violently, sitting up so fast she slammed her head against the seat in front of her, the action causing a gust of wind that sent the plane lurching sideways as it attempted to descend into New York. People yelled, drinks and books slid across tables and flopped to the floor as the pilot struggled against the crosswind. Fighting back the onslaught of panic Sparky’s yell had brought up, she pressed one hand to the wall and leveled out the plane again. Once she was sure that it could fly straight on its own Lani released her powers and dropped her hand, rubbing her eyes. She'd gotten  _some_ sleep but exhaustion was still plaguing her.

 

The pilot’s voice carried over the speaker, “Sorry folks, seems like we got hit by a crosswind just then. Everything appears to be back in order as we continue our descent.”

 

 _Crosswinds caused by a mutant in row 15,_ Lani thought, leaning back in her seat as people began to recollect their lost items, _because_ someone _thought it was a good idea to wake me up like that._ Her right hand had clenched into a fist so tight that she had to pry her tense fingers apart just to get it open. Her whole body was still shaking. In the back of her mind, since she had shut them out right as she woke up, she could hear Lily and Sparky arguing. It was more, Lily yelling and Sparky furiously apologizing. Lani blocked them out. The pilot continued talking, droning on about where to pick up checked bags and what the weather was like.

 

It was raining in New York City.

 

Lani tuned him out too. As long as there was no one actively trying to kill her, she didn’t give a damn what the weather was like.

 

Grabbing her bag, Lani wormed her way out of the seat between groups of people gathering bags from the overhead compartment and darted from the plane as fast as she could. There was just one more long ethereal sprint between her and a slightly better shot at staying alive. She made her way down the long window lined hallways towards customs, keeping her head low and casting fervent glances outside at the gloom. Once she was out there, everything would be better. There were so many people in New York that whoever was trying to remotely kill her should have a harder time trying to pinpoint her location.

 

At least, she really hoped so.

 

The final run through Customs and the baggage claim was a breeze, literally, and it looked like she was home free until she made it out into the main atrium.

 

There were three people standing by the doors: an older bald man in a wheelchair flanked by a tall man with a weird pair of sunglasses perched on his nose and a dark skinned woman with a strikingly white mohawk. Sunglasses Guy held a tablet out in front of his stomach; the screen read “Lani Noble.” The crowd moved around them like they almost didn't see them, but Lani could. She almost couldn't look anywhere else. She ducked behind a pillar and released her cover, sucking in a deep breath of new air. 

 

“What the hell?” She hissed under her breath, pressing a clean spot on her sleeve to her nose in an attempt to stem her eternal nose bleed.

 

 _“Can you die from a nosebleed?”_ Annetta asked, bulldozing over Lani’s concern in her usual way.

 

 _“I’ll look it up.”_ Sparky jumped on the question as well, humming as she searched, “ _Only if it clogs up your airways and you forget to breath through your mouth apparently.”_

 

"Not helpful.” Lani grumbled, edging around the corner just enough so that she could see them. They were still just _standing_ there, parting the crowd like rocks in water. Leaning back out of sight, Lani screwed her eyes shut and pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead. She was so close, _so close!_ Almost free into a place where she could probably hide.

 

_“There’s got to be another door out of here!”_

 

_“Won’t matter, they’ll see her leaving and I don’t think she can handle another run.”_

 

_“Lily’s right, If they know her name they’ll know what she looks like.”_

 

_“I could hack something across the room? Blow one of the monitors or something as a distraction?”_

 

_“That could-”_

 

“Just stop talking!” Lani snapped, hands slicing at the air, “Just shut. Up!” She pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead, breathing deep in through her nose and earning a disgusting mouthful of blood and mucous as a reward.

 

“Excuse me?” The girl’s focus snapped towards the new voice and she pushed away from the pillar when she saw it was the white haired woman that had been waiting, “Lani Noble?”

 

“What do you want?” Lani glared, wrapping one hand around her necklace. She felt a small amount of strength return to her body, Sparky lending her powers in case Lani needed to fight. The past six months had been a serious strain on her energy, and she couldn’t risk tapping into the stronger part of her power while there were so many people around. God, she really didn’t want to fight, especially not with a woman who looked like she could snap her in half with no effort. Fighting for her was mostly a case of: Avoid until you see an opening and then hope you hit hard enough. That method wasn't going to work very well. 

 

The woman held up her hands and raised an eyebrow, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

 

A short laugh escaped Lani's mouth, “That’s a first.” The brunette’s grip on her necklace tightened, blood still dripping from her nose. Her staff was in her bag, out of reach and she mentally kicked herself for not keeping it on her.

 

“My name is Ororo Munroe.” The woman pressed one hand to her chest and bowed slightly, “I’m a teacher at…” Her eyes focused on something past Lani’s shoulder and widened, “Goddess… We need to leave.”

 

Lani spun around, bending one arm back to phase her hand into her backpack to root around for her staff. A man was lurching towards them, shaking his head and mumbling. A sickly red glow radiated off his skin.

 

“For fucks sake.” Lani hissed, finally pulling her staff free and resting her thumb on the button to extend it.

 

“ _No, that’s impossible!”_ Lily gasped, “ _They can’t have found us already!”_

 

 _"Since when has impossible applied to anything in our lives?!"_ Sparky yelled back, electricity coursing along the surface of the orb and making Lani's hand buzz. 

 

Ororo grabbed Lani’s shoulders and tugged her back, “Professor, they’ve found her, we have to go.” Lani resisted against Ororo’s grip but the woman held fast and pulled her out into the stream of people.

 

Tucking her staff into her sleeve Lani glanced over her shoulder, “There are more of them.” They were almost at the other two people who had accompanied Ororo. Sunglasses Guy had tucked his tablet away and instead had rested one hand on the frame of his odd blue and red glasses.

 

The older man rested two fingers against his temple and everyone in the airport froze. Everyone had completely frozen mid step, even the mind controlled ones although they still twitched and mumbled under their breath. One of them hissed her name under their breath.

 

“Adelaide Noble, I presume?” The older man tented his fingers in front of his face with an amused smile. 

 

“The one and only. Although it’s Lani, thanks.” Lani frowned and turned to scan the crowd again, “Who are you people?”

 

“Mutants.” Sunglasses guy said casually, as if that was supposed to clear any confusion on Lani’s part, which it didn’t, “What are you looking for?”

 

“Annetta calls them ‘Phantoms’,” Lani kept looking.

 

 _“It's how our friend, the murderous psychic, extends his reach to other countries. They’re like… invisible crystalline people who can stick to walls and stuff...?”_ Annetta clarified, since Lani was preoccupied, “ _He did the same thing when Lani was hiding in Australia.”_

 

Ororo’s eyes widened slightly, “Wow, the necklace really does talk.”

 

Sparky cackled, _“Boo.”_

 

The brunette sighed, “It’s not a necklace it's an alien artifact that destroyed the world one time.” She spun back around to face them, clicking the button on her staff and extending it to almost her full measure, “Speaking of, how do you know so much about me?” 

 

The older man wheeled forward, “My name is Professor Xavier, and this is Scott Summers.” He gestured to Sunglasses Guy, “With a machine called Cerebro and my inherent psychic abilities, we found you. In fact, I’ve been following your progress for some time. It wasn’t until we learned of this dangerous force hunting you that we decided we needed to bring you in.”

 

“Bring me in?” She let out a short laugh, “What, are you going to arrest me?”

 

“We have a school where mutants can learn to control their powers in safety.” Ororo sighed, crossing her arms behind her back, “With the Professors powers you’d be safe there and you could learn how to better control yours.”

 

Scott adjusted his glasses, "You could learn how to control that ethereal ability of yours more so you don't almost die every time." 

 

"Aw, but that's the fun part!" Lani said then hummed low in her throat, her gaze narrowing slightly. She wasn’t particularly distrustful, although with everything that happened to her she should really consider being more suspicious of people. A school for superhumans? It sounded like she was in some comic book.   

 

Something above her hissed and Lani hurled her staff upwards in one motion. There was a shrill, wheezing sound followed by the bright noise of shattering crystal. Her staff fell back down and she caught it with one foot before tossing it back into her hand and retracting it.

 

“Found the phantom.” She brushed some red crystal dust from her shoulder and shook her head to dislodge it from her hair.

 

 _“So, what are we waiting for?”_ Viv said pointedly, forever Lani's older sister, “ _Are we going to this mutant school or not? ”_

 

Lani tucked her staff back into her bag and regarded the three adults, her mouth tugging sideways as she spoke, “It’s not like I had a better plan. Lead the way, _Professor._ ”

 

Professor Xavier clapped his hands together and the world unfroze, “Excellent. We have a long drive ahead of us, my dear. I’m sure we can answer any questions you have in that time.”

 

 _“Good luck.”_ Lily grinned, _“She’ll find a way to ask things you can’t answer.”_

 

\---

 

“Wait,” Lani leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, “How do you feed so many kids?” Westchester County flashed by outside as they made their way to the school. Ororo had gotten her a bunch of tissues and a water bottle so she could clean the blood from her face and hands, as well as a sweatshirt with a yellow X on the sleeve to replace her worn windbreaker. She’d already asked all her important questions, such as drilling them on their powers, and was getting around to any random thought that popped into mind. Ororo was quicker on the draw than she had anticipated, with Scott chiming in from the driver's seat when he wasn't cursing at the other drivers. The Professor seemed amused by the whole thing.

 

Unfortunately, it had done little to ease her anxiety about the whole thing; her left leg was still bouncing like a jackhammer.

 

“We have three kitchens that students can use as long as they clean up after themselves,” Ororo answered, barely glancing up from her tablet, “As well as a cafeteria and some students choose to go into the town for meals.” The brunette hummed and glanced across at the woman's tablet; she seemed to be planning a curriculum of some kind.

 

“What do you teach?”

 

“Oh, she doesn’t teach.” Scott offered with a laugh, “She’s the one person keeping the school from falling apart.”

 

“And,” Ororo glared at him in the rearview mirror, “I also mentor some students.”

 

“Mentor?” Lani leapt on that train of thought.

 

“All mutants seventeen and older get a mentor to help them train and refine their powers.” The Professor clarified, “Mentors are usually teachers, or older students who have already completed their training.”

 

“Will I get a mentor?” Lani leaned forward, genuinely curious at this point. She hadn’t actually considered what training with her powers would be like. All the training she had when she was twelve had involved needles and standing in a small room making things float before getting thrown into a fight. She plucked at the leather backing of the driver’s seat.

 

“Of course. Especially with powers like yours.” The Professor hummed, “I have a few people in mind.”

 

“The first few days will be pretty boring for you.” Scott turned onto a side road, shifting Lani against the window as her seat belt yanked her back into her seat, “And I teach engineering by the way.”

 

Lani lunged forward again so fast her seatbelt stopped her short, “Wait, engineering!” Her face lit up, “Tell me!”

 

 _“Oh god.”_ Sparky groaned, _“Now she’s never going to shut up.”_ The rest of the car ride was spent with Lani drilling Scott on everything engineering. She clung to the back of his seat, stretching her seatbelt to its limit as they spoke. As they turned into the Mansion's driveway, her voice died in her throat. She undid her seatbelt and moved forward until she was braced between the two front seats, eyes wide as she took in the school.

 

The house was a grand Victorian mansion like someone had pulled Bentley’s manor right out of Pride and Prejudice and plopped it down in Westchester, New York. The whole thing was tan brick and clinging ivy, with arching windows and a neat ‘X’ shaped hedge in the front. It reminded Lani of the nights she and Viv used to spend watching Masterpiece Theater. A girl with a long braid of red hair oversaw a game of hide and seek played by a group of young kids who darted through the trees. Several of them stopped to watch the car rumble past on the gravel driveway. Lani swore one of the little girls had a small creature made of starlight curled around her shoulders. Once Scott had parked, Professor Xavier led her through the front doors and into an impressively grand front room. Now she _really_ felt like she was in some old classic movie about old dukes and duchesses discussing the latest money problems. 

 

“Professor!” A dark haired boy jogged down the massive split staircase along the back wall with two people tailing after him, “Are you guys okay? Riley felt the time stop from here.” He couldn’t be any older than twenty, with short black hair and green eyes that looked perpetually tired; his accent was French Canadian. His eyes flicked to Lani, and then away, his brow furrowing slightly.

 

The Professor wheeled forward with a smile, Lani trailing after him like a lost puppy, “We’re fine, thank you Jason.” He motioned for Lani to come stand by his side, “This is Lani Noble, our new student and her… Companions.” The orb detached from the cord around Lani’s neck and melded back to its normal size, floating just over Lani’s shoulder.

 

One of Jason’s friends, a tall dark skinned person with gemstones dotting their freckled skin, socked him lightly in the shoulder, “I told you she’d come.” They smiled warmly at Lani and offered a hand for her to shake, “Riley D’Hana.” The back of their hands each had a chiseled piece of quartz set in it, and there was a small opal between their eyebrows.

 

“Funny how I only found out about her arrival this morning.” The third newcomer commented, a blonde man with an Australian accent and a face like he’d eaten something sour,  “It’s not like I had a medical profile to prepare or anything.” He pulled a tablet from the pocket of his lab coat and started taping at it with a stylus.

 

Jason clapped him on the back with a tired sigh, “This is Medic, and yes, he’s always like this.” Medic glared at him and brushed his hand off with his stylus. 

 

“Charming…?” Lani curled her arms around herself. She was starting to understand what it was like to be a new kid, with all the new names matched to faces and the staring; She was starting to wish she was anywhere else but there. Also the 16 hour jet lag was starting to turn her brain to mush.

 

As if on cue a massive yawn escaped her mouth, smothered by her clamping a hand over her mouth.

 

Riley, who seemed to _also_ be a psychic had engaged Lily in a mental conversation, turned to her, “Oh, you must be exhausted.”

 

Lani yawned again, “No, I’m good… Totally fine.” She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up. Sparky zapped her, and the orb received a swat in return.

 

 _"I was try ing to_ _help."_ She sniffed. 

 

Riley laughed gently, “You’re still used to a time zone sixteen hours ahead, you should get some rest. Besides, I'm sure the Professor needs more time to get everything sorted out for your arrival” They rested one hand on her shoulder gently and although she jumped she didn't brush their hand off.

 

Medic barely glanced up from his work, and turned towards one of the side hallways, “We have guest rooms on the first sublevel, she can stay in one of those. I’d rather she sleep her jetlag off before I run a few tests.”

 

Lani took an involuntary step back, “Define...Tests.” The tremor in her right hand threatened to return. 

 

He waved a hand dismissively, “Usual medical stuff, your height and weight and all that shit. Plus a few other simulations to make sure you don’t have any impairments you don’t know about.” 

 

“Is that common?” She smothered yet another yawn, relaxing.

 

Jason snorted, “You’d be surprised.” He tucked his hands in his pockets and half turned back towards the stairs, “Well, I have work to do. Nice meeting you, Lani.” She managed a halfhearted wave in return as he left.

 

“Riley, would you please accompany Miss Noble to her room? Wouldn’t want Medic to scare her on her first day.” Professor Xavier gave her a good natured smile and when she gave him a slightly panicked look in return it turned soothing, “I’ll come find you in the morning to help you get everything sorted.”

 

 _“We’ll be fine.”_ Annetta said, _“Besides, I may have only known this Riley person for ten minutes now but I trust them.”_

 

Riley smiled at that and inclined their head, “Why, thank you.”

 

It wasn’t that Lani didn’t trust them, in fact she found that she was rather willing to trust Riley and Jason. Less so Medic but she had a feeling that was a general consensus for most people given his attitude. The problem was that she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She wasn’t used to being alone and on the flip side she wasn’t used to being around people. Now she was dealing with both in a totally new environment. Anxiety at it all roiled just on the edge of her mind, barely kept at bay by years of practiced suppression. 

 

Lani took a deep breath and held it, taking a small comfort in her powers, and then spoke, “Lead the way.”  


End file.
